Medical fund started to help Wyoming wrestler

A fund has been established to help former University of Wyoming wrestler Michael Martinez cover medical costs.

Martinez was helping on his family’s ranch in Colorado when a gas leak caught fire in his field camper. He drove himself several miles to reach help and was airlifted to an Albuquerque hospital, where he was treated for burns to over 80 percent of his body.

Now, friends and supporters have created a fund to help defray Martinez’s medical costs. U-W head wrestling coach Mark Branch describes the three-time conference champion and four-time N-C-double-A qualifier as an exceptional young man—the kind of guy that lived out of his truck while attending classes in Laramie, just grateful for the chance to study.

“He told me very up front, I mean he was always very clear that his family didn’t have a lot of money and if it wasn’t for his wrestling he wouldn’t have had an opportunity to get his college degree. And I think he was always very appreciative of his wrestling scholarship and the fact that it led him to do something he could have never dreamed of.”

Contributions to Martinez’s medical fund can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank under the name “Michael Martinez Donation Fund” or online at www.michaelmartinezfund.com.